PhD Management Science, Accounting Concentration

The PhD Accounting program is designed for students seeking training in the most advanced issues in accounting, both theoretical and applied. It is intended to prepare them primarily for tenure-track positions in research-oriented universities. The program requires hands-on training in accounting research, supported by work in the disciplines of economics, mathematics, psychology and statistics, culminating in a doctoral dissertation.

Program Contact

The PhD Accounting program prepares students for conducting independent research on topics concerning accounting and how accounting relates to economic and financial activities. We have a large group of research-active tenured and tenure-track faculty, who are available to help mentor and advise our students toward a successful completion of the program. We are constantly and actively searching for new faculty to expand our department in size and quality so that we can attract the best students from around the world.

Research Ranking

The PhD in Accounting concentration has the objective of training top quality doctoral students who are capable of producing high-caliber accounting research in reputable research universities. Our accounting faculty consists of seventeen outstanding tenure-track researchers engaged in producing cutting edge research in areas including corporate financial disclosures, analyst’s forecasts, relationship between accounting data and market price, executive compensation, corporate governance, and valuation of intangible assets and intangible capital.

Our faculty is highly visible in terms of their publications in the top-tier accounting journals and are ranked #12 worldwide based on articles published in the top three journals for accounting (Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of Accounting Research, and The Accounting Review). This ranking is based on the UTD Top 100 World Rankings of Business Schools, which is based on research contribution from 2012-2016. These rankings for the top fifteen schools are reproduced below:

Top 15 Accounting PhD Programs Worldwide, Ranked by Research Contributions

Rank

University

Articles

Score

Country

1

Stanford University (Graduate School of Business)

35

17.82

USA

2

University of Pennsylvania (The Wharton School)

29

16.90

USA

3

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (College of Business)

35

16.82

USA

4

University of Chicago (Booth School of Business)

32

16.37

USA

5

University of Southern California (Marshall School of Business)

27

14.95

USA

6

University of Texas at Austin (McCombs School of Business)

32

14.49

USA

7

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan School of Management)

25

13.82

USA

8

Harvard University (Harvard Business School)

22

13.74

USA

9

New York University (Leonard N. Stern School of Business)

22

13.66

USA

10

Boston College (Carroll School of Management)

19

12.91

USA

11

University of California at Berkeley (Walter A. Haas School of Business)

17

12.83

USA

12

University of Texas at Dallas (Naveen Jindal School of Management)

27

12.36

USA

13

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler Business School)

21

12.20

USA

14

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (Ross School of Business)

25

11.41

USA

15

Washington University at St. Louis (Olin School of Business)

19

11.21

USA

Student Placements

We are committed to the success of our Accounting PhD students. Our aim is to place our doctoral students in quality research universities. With that objective in mind, the training in our program stresses the development of the necessary skills to carry out independent research. Towards this goal, the students will take several doctoral seminars, write summer papers and have an opportunity to work on collaborative research projects with faculty.

In the past ten years, about 30 students have graduated from our program. Below is the placement information of our doctoral graduates with tenure-track appointments.

Selected PhD Accounting Student Placements

Name

Placement

Location

Koren Jo

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Abdullah Kumas

University of Richmond

Richmond, VA

Dichu Bao

Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Musa Subasi

University of Missouri

Columbia, MO

Guang Ma

National University of Singapore

Singapore, Singapore

Kenneth Zheng

University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

Buffalo, NY

Weining Zhang

National University of Singapore

Singapore, Singapore

Yue Zhang

City University of Hong Kong

Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Hiu ‘Albert’ Tsang

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Ma Liu Shui, New Territories, Hong Kong

Oktay Urcan

London Business School

London, England

Him-Lai ‘Lilian’ Chan

University of Hong Kong

Pokfulam, Hong Kong

Rong Huang

Baruch College

New York City, NY

Tai-Yuan Chen

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Lixin ‘Nancy’ Su

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Lei ‘Tony’ Chen

Georgia State University

Atlanta, GA

Raj D. Mashruwala

Washington University in St. Louis

St. Louis, MO

Student Publications

Our doctoral graduates succeed in publishing in top quality academic journals. Below are examples of publications from our doctoral graduates.

Lin, Shu with M. Vargus, M. Pizzini and I. Bardhan “The role of the internal audit functions in the disclosure of material weaknesses” The Accounting Review 2011

Su, Lixin Nancy with J. Krishnan and Y. Zhang “Nonaudit services and earnings management in the pre-SOX and post-Sox Eras” Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory 2011

Tsang, Albert with D.S. Dhaliwal, O.Z.Li and G.Y.Yang “Voluntary nonfinancial disclosure and the cost of equity capital: The initiation of corporate social responsibility reporting” The Accounting Review 2011

Chen, Tai-Yuan with A. Ali and S. Radhakrishnan “Corporate disclosures by family firms” Journal of Accounting and Economics 2007

Lin, Shu with I. Bardhan and V. Krishnan “Project performance and the enabling role of information technology: An exploratory study on the role of alignment” Manufacturing and Service Operations Management 2007

Lin, Shu with S. Mithas and I. Bardhan “Performance impacts of strategy information technology applications and business process outsourcing in U.S. manufacturing plants” Production and Operations Management 2007

Mashruwala, Raj with R. Banker “The moderating role of competition in the relationship between nonfinancial measures and future financial performance” Contemporary Accounting Research 2007

Admission Procedures

Students may enter the PhD Accounting program after previous graduate training or directly from undergraduate programs. Admission is based on grade-point average, GMAT* or GRE scores, letters of reference (minimum of three, with at least two from academic references), business and professional experience (if applicable), a written statement of personal objectives, and compatibility with faculty research activities.

* Although both GMAT and GRE scores are accepted, the GMAT is strongly preferred.

The Jindal School of Management starts making first-round PhD admission decisions on January 6th; it is best to complete the entire application process no later than January 5th. While applications will be accepted after that date, applying after January 5th may significantly lower your chance of acceptance. Application for admission can be made using the UT Dallas Graduate Application Web site.

Degree Requirements

Students must complete at least 75 semester hours of approved graduate work before a degree may be conferred. Credit may be granted for courses taken elsewhere.

Prerequisites

Calculus and statistics are prerequisites for the doctoral program – every admitted student is responsible for ensuring he/she has satisfied these prerequisite requirements before joining the program.

Master’s–Level Courses

Students entering the program without a Master in Accounting or equivalent must complete a minimum of four courses in at least three areas typically required of Master in Accounting students to provide them with the knowledge required to be professional managers. In certain instances, a higher-level course may be substituted for an Master in Accounting-level course.

Research Methods Core

The Management Science PhD core curriculum consists of a minimum of 9 courses.

Doctoral Seminars

Students are required to take at least six doctoral level seminars in accounting.

Other Courses

Students will be asked to take other advanced graduate-level courses in related fields such as economics, econometrics and finance at the discretion of the PhD adviser.

Research Papers

Students are expected to write a research paper under the supervision of or in collaboration with Jindal School of Management faculty in each of the first two summers of their work at UT Dallas. At least one of these two papers is expected to be of sufficient quality to merit publication in academic journals. Papers may be co-authored, and both papers are presented before the accounting area faculty.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

At the end of the first year, all PhD students will be required to take a preliminary exam which will consist of 2 parts. The first part will be based on Advanced Managerial Economics (MECO 6345) and Statistics (MECO 7312). The second part of the exam will be based on the two accounting PhD seminars that the students take during their first year.

All PhD students will be required to work on a research paper during their first summer and another research paper during their second year. These two research papers will satisfy the qualifying exam requirement which must be passed before admission for candidacy for the doctorate degree.

PhD students must successfully complete the preliminary and qualifying examinations, respectively, to enter PhD candidacy. The area faculty will determine whether a student has successfully completed the exam requirements based on the student’s performance. Criteria to evaluate students may include results from the in-class written portion of the exams, quality of research papers and/or presentations, performance in special courses (e.g. seminar courses), satisfactory GPA as determined by area faculty, and other forms of assessment as required by the student’s area. An unsatisfactory performance in any one criteria for either the preliminary examination or the qualifying examination may result in dismissal from the program.

Dissertation

The dissertation is written under the direction of the dissertation committee. Twelve to 24 semester hours may be granted for the dissertation toward the minimum 75-hour requirement for the degree. At a time mutually agreeable to the candidate and the dissertation committee, the candidate must orally defend the dissertation to the committee.

Dissertation Proposal Defense

The Dissertation Proposal must be successfully defended at least one semester prior to the term of graduation. The requirements for the proposal defense should be discussed with the dissertation committee prior to scheduling the defense. Dissertation Proposal Defenses will be open to all faculty and PhD students of the Jindal School of Management.

The candidate must orally defend a dissertation proposal before starting the dissertation.